Undermount sink allows for granite chipping???

kimstmJune 12, 2014

Hi,

Have any of you had trouble with the inside of the granite chipping if you have an undermount sink? We are planning on using a bullnose edge, but the sides facing into the sink will be straight. Do you have chips from pots and pans hitting the edges?

Still nervous when using my new sink. Last night washing a long handled pan it "hit" the edge of the granite by the sink and held my breath, but all was ok. Assume it will withstand a lot but I think I will also be on pins and needles when washing large items and hoping to get more comfortable in the new surroundings.

After 10 years, yes I do. I would show you a picture but my granite is dark so I don't know if the tiny chips would show up. My SIL was helping me clean up at Christmas and noticed them. I thought I was the only one that knew they were there. You can definitely feel them when you run your fingers over the edges.

So Trebruchet...will you post a picture so I can make sue I get it right in the new house please?

I followed Trebuchet's advice and asked for a rounder edge on the inside of all my sinks. The fabricator called it a 'heavy pencil'. It is not a super noticeable difference but enough to help I think with chipping compared to an eased edge.

I asked my fabricator about chipping. He encouraged me to go with "eased edge" which is not as rounded as the "radius" edge. He thinks eased edge is more modern and fits my kitchen better. He said if mine chips, he'll just come back out and mix and apply some epoxy to the chip and no one will notice the difference. I took him at his word. Hope things go okay.

To make me worry more, I got white silgranite because of a screwup at the last minute of my order and I didn't have time to think. Oh well --read some good reviews of white here on GW so hopefully things will work out. If not, since we are using "sink setters", I'll have the white pulled out and replaced with gray. Supposed to be fairly easy if you use sink setters. Right?

" If not, since we are using "sink setters", I'll have the white pulled out and replaced with gray. Supposed to be fairly easy if you use sink setters. Right?"

elpahba:

Sorry. Sink setters are installed before the tops and would probably be destroyed in the removal necessary for the removal of a sink. Use a Hercules Universal Sink Harness which makes changing a sink simple and saves money over the cost of the Sink Setters.

The day before yesterday I was at the home of an admitted OCD customer who had called me to shine dulled granite. I took one look and refused; there was nothing wrong that a razor blade scraping soap scum couldn't cure in half a minute. You don't start trying to match factory gloss without a very good reason.

His 1/8" "pencil" sink edge profile had the inevitable chips. Remember, this is a retired couple with a 6-year-old top, no crazy teenagers here. I explained that removing them would very slightly alter the consistency of the profile and he was good with that. It took about 10 minutes. I made a previous polyester deck repair look and feel much better for another 10 minutes or so.

He was very pleased, despite my less-than-$300.00 minimum fee. I cannot overemphasize. You will pay your fabricator a premium for a larger sink edge radius profile, or you will pay me to grind chips out (and look at a slightly distorted profile forever), or you will stare at and feel chips in your edge. You will chose one of these.

If anyone is like me and has bought Sink Setters for use in installing their undermount sinks, after some info here, I contacted them this morning and they explained that their old model used to have problems being switched out. The new model has a plate that attaches to the side of the cabinet and the horizontal (or in the case of smaller sinks, vertial) bars slip over the horizontal plate (or vertical plate). Sink setter hardware can easily be swapped out at later time if you want to swap out your sink. I checked our temporary sink which is currently using the big sink setter. Once the screws are unscrewed, the sink should slip out. I was worried that the sink setter I'm currently using for the temporary sink can't be re-used for the permanent one coming in tomorrow. Doesn't look like that is the case. I have no affiliation with the Sink Setter company other than as a customer. Hopefully after tomorrow, I'll be a VERY satisfied customer if re-use turns out as easy as they say. Wanted to report here in case there are others with this "issue". I'll report again after installation tomorrow. Crossing fingers.